Friday, June 19, 2026

AI-created fake photos of FIFA World Cup fans show a growing problem


Lately I’ve seen a flood of photos on social media platform X that purport to show beautiful female fans of national teams participating in the FIFA World Cup. But many of them are fakes created by generative artificial intelligence applications. And it’s getting hard to tell the real ones from the fakes.
Thankfully some X users do the research and flag the fantasy photos with Community Notes. They point out flaws in the photos such as digital artifacts that are telltale signs of AI. But these fakes will only get better, making it harder to discern the truth from falsehoods.
I appreciate it when some posters add labels to mark their photos or videos as AI-created. But not all netizens are good actors.
And this is just sports and entertainment, fake photos will be a bigger problem in news and politics. One recent post contained an AI-altered photo that showed an event at the White House that didn’t occur. Expect more of this as AI develops.

Photo at top: AI-generated photo of a sexy FIFA fan posted multiple times on X.

Related articles:

World Cup ‘supporter’ goes viral as AI image leaves fans duped (News.com.au; June 14, 2026)

Is she real? USA World Cup fan in tiny bikini goes massively viral (Mundo Deportivo; June 13, 2026)











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Sunday, June 14, 2026

Kylie Minogue should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame


The Netflix documentary series “Kylie” provides compelling evidence that Australian pop music superstar Kylie Minogue needs to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The fact that she has never been nominated is a disgrace. The longevity of her career, her reinventions, her chart-topping hits and sold-out concerts to this day are all factors in her favor. The three-part Netflix series also shows the personal and professional challenges she has faced and overcome.
Australia has been a noticeable blind spot for the Rock Hall. The only Aussie acts in the hall are AC/DC and the Bee Gees.
Aussie snubs include Minogue, INXS (nominated for the first time this year), Midnight Oil, Crowded House and Nick Cave.
Next year would be a perfect time to induct Minogue as she reportedly will be on another world tour.
Kylie is an icon who deserves to be in the Rock Hall before a raft of other female solo artists.
The 2026 Netflix docuseries “Kylie” and concert film from her Tension tour “Kylie: Tension Tour Live” hopefully will give Minogue an exposure lift to hall voters.
Put her name on the nomination ballot and she will lead the fan poll. I’m sure of it.

Related articles:

Kylie Minogue and the Art of Staying a Mega-Famous Pop Star Forever (Rolling Stone; June 5, 2026)

Kylie Minogue Confirms 40th Anniversary Tour Plans: ‘I’m Probably Not Meant to Say This, But Yes’ (Billboard; May 17, 2026)

Photos: “Kylie” docuseries poster and photos from the premiere. (Netflix)


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Sunday, June 7, 2026

AI summaries are taking oxygen from news publishers


Artificial intelligence summaries from the likes of Google Gemini are very enticing. Who needs to scour an article for a fact or information when Google can just pull it out and present it to you?
But fewer visits to news publishers’ websites mean less advertising revenue for those companies. That threatens their business and the journalism they create.
"The open web is on its way out. With AI, Google is reducing everyone to raw data providers,” Richard Kramer, a financial analyst with Arete Research, said in a New York Times article.
Google announced its latest search changes on May 19 at its Google I/O conference. It called the changes its “biggest upgrade in over 25 years.”
“Google’s AI search tools may genuinely improve usability, but they also fundamentally reshape the web ecosystem Google originally helped build,” Techradar contributing writer Eric Hal Schwartz said in a news post. “Publishers, creators, and websites increasingly worry that conversational AI answers reduce incentives for users to click through to original sources.”
TechCrunch writer Sarah Perez summed it up by writing, “The era of the ‘ten blue links’ is officially over.”
She added, “The links, to clarify, have not entirely disappeared; they are just no longer the priority for many types of searches.”
The big news publishers have been able to extract licensing fees from Google and other AI firms for scraping their content, but the little guys are largely on the outs.

Related articles:

Journalism job cuts in 2026 tracked (Press Gazette)

New York Times chief: How and why publishers should fight AI ‘tsunami’ (Press Gazette; June 2, 2026)

New York Times Publisher Warns That AI Companies Are Making Choices That ‘Violate Settled Law’ and Could Cause a ‘Great Deal of Unnecessary Harm’ (Variety; June 1, 2026)

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson warns AI companies scraping without paying: ‘We’re coming for you’ (Press Gazette; March 4, 2026)

News Corp, Meta in AI Content Licensing Deal Worth Up to $50 Million a Year (Wall Street Journal; March 3, 2026)

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Sunday, May 31, 2026

Google search changes are hurting small news publishers


For many years, news publishers relied on “search engine optimization” techniques to get their articles to rank highly on Google search to drive traffic to their websites. But recent changes at Google have slashed traffic to news publishers. And it’s only going to get worse with AI.
With Google Gemini artificial intelligence, the company’s search engine has become an answer engine. It doesn’t lead with links to websites or news articles where individuals can find relevant information. It cuts to the chase and provides answers to questions that web surfers are asking. Except AI has been known to confidently give incorrect information.
With AI-generated summaries, web users don’t need to click through to suggested webpages to find information. Google just presents it to them on the Google search page. While it provides links as footnotes, most users aren’t going to check out the source material.
News publishers big and small are seeing their web traffic (and related advertising revenue) from search dry up. The biggest publishers are better positioned to find ways to weather the changes, but the little guys are getting squashed.
Google is no longer primarily about referring traffic to publishers – it has become the destination for information, leeching off the work of others. Google’s AI-generated summaries have replaced the “10 blue links” it used to provide.
Google launched its AI Overviews in May 2024 and has since upgraded its search page to an “AI Mode” with chatbot-style answers provided by Google Gemini. And the negative impact to news publishers and other websites has been dramatic.
One website that I’ve used for following news on streaming video services, The TV Answerman, recently announced that it is ending its daily/regular coverage of the TV industry because of the loss of revenue from the Google changes.
“There’s no way to continue due to Google Search’s decision in 2023 to promote large sites (and marketing partners) over small ones such as this,” TV Answerman publisher Phillip Swann said in an April 17 post. “Google has 90 percent of the Search market; if it decides to bury your stories, you’re pretty much history.”
Swann provided more commentary in an April 28 post.
“Like many other small publishers, I have seen my site traffic plummet over the last few years due to Google Search’s algorithm change that elevated larger sites and marketing partners such as Reddit,” he said.
And his problems occurred before Google announced on May 19 its latest big search changes that would focus on AI answers.
Some publishers are preparing for “Google zero,” the point at which they receive zero click-throughs from the search platform.

Related articles:

Top 50 US news websites: Half of sites see traffic fall 20% or more in a year. (Press Gazette; May 8, 2026)

Exclusive: Small publishers hit hardest by search traffic declines (Axios; March 17, 2026)

AI surfacing is messy: Data shows publisher visibility and traffic often misalign (Digiday; March 11, 2026)

The Internet's Most-Read Tech Publications Have Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024 (Growtika; Feb. 26, 2026)

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Sunday, April 19, 2026

Joy Division/New Order finally recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame


The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class of inductees on April 13 and I’m generally pleased with the outcome. I’m thrilled the hall’s voters selected my top pick: Joy Division/New Order.
They’re my all-time favorite band and got me into the EDM scene, starting with “Blue Monday” (1983).
Four of my seven picks from the fan ballot made it into the hall this year. The others are Phil Collins, Billy Idol and Iron Maiden.
The 2026 class of performer inductees also includes Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.
Plus, the hall added 10 more individuals through side categories like early influence and musical excellence. Notables in that group include Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Gram Parsons.
All told, the 2026 class includes approximately 46 individuals thanks to large groups like Wu-Tang Clan and Iron Maiden. The final number depends on how many members past and present the hall plans to officially induct at its ceremony on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles.
The 2026 class is notable for having 18 induction slots (the most since 1987). I guess this is a catch-up year, designed to put a dent in the hall’s sizable backlog of worthy performers who have yet to make the cut. That includes Australian rock band INXS, who I pushed for this year.
While the 1987 class holds the record for the most “induction acts” with 22 distinct slots, the 2012 class is the winner by total headcount, with a staggering 63 individuals inducted. That year, the hall inducted a roster of “backing groups” alongside their previously inducted frontmen to correct historical omissions.

Related articles:

John Sykes on 2026 Rock Hall Inductions, Why Voters Embraced So Many Acts From the 1980s & Their Curious Snub of Mariah Carey (Billboard; April 16, 2026)

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2026 Inductees: Oasis, Phil Collins, Iron Maiden, Sade, Billy Idol, Wu-Tang Clan and More (Variety; April 13, 2026)


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Saturday, April 4, 2026

CES tech trade show thriving but still below pre-Covid glory days


The annual CES technology trade show, still referred to by many as the Consumer Electronics Show, this week said attendance at its 2026 conference Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas rose 4.2% to 148,392 people. But the number of exhibitors declined 8.9% to about 4,100.
CES still hasn’t recovered from the Covid pandemic, which forced the cancellation of the 2021 show. The last pre-Covid show in 2020 attracted 171,268 attendees and 4,419 exhibitors.
The peak year for attendees was CES 2017, which drew 184,279 participants.
One area that has surpassed pre-Covid levels and hit a record high was media attendance at CES. The CES 2026 show attracted 7,037 media representatives, up 6.9% from the prior year.
The Consumer Technology Association, which produces CES, said “media” includes news media, content creators and industry analysts. So, it’s hard to say how many were journalists vs. social media influencers and others.
Still, CES is doing well when compared with other conferences.
Brunico Communications announced earlier this week that it is cancelling its U.S. events portfolio in 2027, including the Realscreen Summit, the Kidscreen Summit and NATPE Global.

Photo: CES 2026 in Las Vegas (Patrick Seitz)

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Saturday, March 28, 2026

Will New Edition join Phish and Dave Matthews Band in this distinction?


New Edition currently leads the fan vote for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by a comfortable margin, having surpassed early No. 1 Phil Collins. Does that make the group a lock for induction into the music hall this year? Not necessarily.
Since the Rock Hall introduced the fan vote, the winner of the top spot has failed to be inducted in the same year only two times.
Dave Matthews Band topped the fan vote in 2020 but was not inducted that year. They topped the fan vote again in 2024 and got in that year.
Phish was No. 1 in the fan vote in 2025 but was snubbed by the hall.
However, 11 of the 13 artists who have won the fan vote were inducted in their respective years. The other inductees include Rush (2013), KISS (2014), Stevie Ray Vaughan (2015), Chicago (2016), Journey (2017), Bon Jovi (2018), Def Leppard (2019), Tina Turner (2021), Duran Duran (2022) and George Michael (2023).
Frankly I’m surprised by the fan support for New Edition. I guess they’re a nostalgia favorite for the younger crowd.

Photo: Fan vote leaderboard for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as of a.m. March 28, 2026.

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